Tag Archives: coming of age

His only inflatable friend is his swelling ego…

 

What is a young man’s most vulnerable part?

You’d think Rollo would be discouraged, but he continually fails upward.

I suspect that only an avid new female readership will make it possible to resurrect popular interest in male-centered romantic comedies. As evidence it’s women to the rescue, I offer the expert opinion of none other than Jane Austen, who wrote in 1813:

One cannot be always laughing at a man without now and then stumbling on something witty.

Literature of the late twentieth century was dominated by male authors. In fact, there was an unrelenting series of Johns, including O’Hara, Steinbeck, Cheever, Updike, and Irving. Humor in the category of literary fiction was dominated by the hirsute likes of Wodehouse, Thurber, Mencken, De Vries, Lefcourt, and Barry. Exceptions included Dorothy Parker, who made a career of lampooning men, and Erma Bombeck, who picked unmercifully on housewives.

Since that time, book industry statistics show that women now buy more books than men do — and today they hold many of the managerial posts at publishing houses. In the area of comedy, Helen Fielding’s Bridget Jones’s Diary, appearing in 1996, set off a firestorm of book buying in the now sensationally popular genre of chick-lit.

So, one might ask, “Is male-centered comic fiction still a thing?” It is, I suggest, if women embrace it, starting with poor Rollo.

In February, Rollo #1 (the inflatable one) is 99c on Amazon Kindle and FREE from EPUB stores. The other two books in the series are reduced to $2.99 in either format.

The audiobook of My Inflatable Friend is available from Audible and other audio booksellers.

Misadventures of Rollo Hemphill - 3 book series

 

 

 

 

Sneak Preview – My Inflatable Friend

Rollo Returns!

The Misadventures of Rollo Hemphill series of humorous novels will be reissued later this summer. Shown here is the new cover for the first title, My Inflatable Friend.

First released in 2007 – in the same year the iPhone was introduced – the beginning of Rollo’s story presents few examples of smartphone texting and social-media interactions. It just wasn’t a thing back then.

And foremost among Rollo’s transgressions was his decision to make his girlfriend Felicia jealous with a life-sized rubber doll. That device, too, was a new thing, but times have certainly changed. This one is silicone and reportedly has her own Instagram page (this from RT, so for various reasons, beware of hacks and ads for personal applicances):

Kazakh Bodybuilder’s ‘Marriage” to Doll on Hold

Here’s a snippet of My Inflatable Friend, clipped from the audiobook narrated by the irrepressible, indefatigable Stuart Appleton, who I suggest sounds like Rollo but perhaps is a more exemplary citizen:

My Inflatable Friend audiobook (Audible)

Thinking About Thinking #36 – 13 Reasons Why

Here’s my book review of Thirteen Reasons Why, a novel by Jay Asher.

Thirteen Reasons Why is the fictional story behind a teenage suicide. It has two first-person narrators – Hannah Baker, the girl who decided to end her own life, and Clay Jensen, who presumably was one of the thirteen 13 motivations for her tragic choice. Clay comes into possession of a box of audiocassette tapes – an outdated format in this age of mp3 – but it’s relatively secure because the analog recordings can’t be copied as easily and shared at a click with your thousand closest friends on Facebook.

Hannah dictated the tapes to tell the story behind her decision to end her life in an odd – and you could well say pointless – act of revenge. She has devised a routing plan so that each of the people who wronged her will be forced to listen. And she has included a scheme to betray their guilty secrets if any one of them goes public with the information – or doesn’t keep this audio chain-letter moving from one perpetrator to the last – at which point the tapes must be destroyed.

Hannah’s story unfolds to us (the readers), as Clay plays the tapes in sequence for himself. All along he’s wondering about – and dreading – what role he had in, and what responsibility he might hold for, her death.

What’s striking to me as a mature adult – mature, at least in years – is how mundane and relatively innocuous these slights seem. I don’t think there’s much here that would cause an adult to take the high jump to oblivion. There’s bullying of various kinds, sexual and emotional abuse by young men, along with snubs and betrayals by her female peers. Hannah seems to fear she’s an ugly duckling. But she’s hardly thinking that the boys seem drawn to her by her sheer attractiveness. She doesn’t provoke their advances, and for the most part, she doesn’t give into them.

There is an incident of date rape, but Hannah is not its victim. She’s a witness, and she blames herself for its happening. But it’s not necessarily one of the reasons she decides to end it all. I’m not sure why she does. In the world of adults, traumas like divorce, job loss, financial insolvency terminal illness, and death can trigger severe emotional breakdowns. But there’s none of that in Hannah’s background. In general, cruel gossip can be a destroyer of egos, but not the basic will to live.

I’ve heard it said that deep despair is the result – not of losing happiness – but losing the hope of ever having any happiness. And I suppose that’s what destroys Hannah.

I won’t insert the spoiler here of how Clay was or wasn’t involved. But I wonder about novelist Jay Asher. This was his first fiction book, and some would say he hit the ball out of the park. The book and the audio book have been bestsellers. It’s won all kinds of awards, and it’s been made into a cable series on Netflix. So he knows how to tell a story, one that engages the angst of tweens and teens. I’m no mental health expert, but I don’t think Jay Asher’s understanding of clinical depression or suicide is particularly deep. He said in interviews that he had a close relative who considered suicide but survived. If any of his young readers think Hannah’s are compelling reasons to just give up, I think that’s more than a shame.

Intrigue on the white sands of the Indian Ocean. A great “beach read” even if you won’t actually be camped out on the shore.

Book Review: An Eternal Audience of One by Rémy Ngamije (release date August 10, 2021)

The Eternal Audience of One book cover

Gallery / Scout Press imprint of Simon & Schuster

The book’s title The Eternal Audience of One would seem to refer to the unrepentant self-centeredness of the young male protagonist Séraphin Turihamwe. At an overview level, focusing on entertainment value, the storytelling is a familiar coming-of-age plot, a series of hookups, mostly casual and a few intense – soft-core graphic. What’s exceptional about author Rémy Ngamije’s version are the intrigues of and insights on sexual, racial, and geopolitical strife in today’s southern Africa. Séraphin was born Rwandan, but his educated family emigrates to Windhoek, Namibia in search of both safety and prosperity. As a result, the label refugee gets appended to him, when he and his family expect to be regarded as residents who deserve a place in the country’s rapidly emerging middle class. But no sooner does overachieving student Séraphin begin to adjust than he decides to attend law school at Remms in Cape Town, South Africa. There he is rapidly thrown into a sophisticated urban environment, along with the predictable pressures of trying to balance the obligations of academic achievement and serious partying.

Cocksure Séraphin, who still harbors secret doubts about his social standing, hangs with a posse of fellow students. These men call themselves the High Lords, facilitating their exploits with liberal rounds of alcohol if not drugs. He has left an Afrikaner girlfriend back home in Windhoek to stumble into a series of hookups with young women who are variously white or black. Although he and his fellows don’t discriminate racially as to their choices in partners, they do share stereotypes among themselves about the characteristics, charms, and preferences of each. For example, a group they call the Benevolent White Girls would not think of sleeping with any of them, but those are avid notetakers in class and are eager to help their black brothers crib. As with Séraphin’s chagrin at being called a refugee, many of his mates, although from indigenous ethnicities in neighboring countries, are regarded as foreigners in Cape Town.

So, it’s mostly partying and texting, along with falling in and out of bed, if not in love. Spoiler alert: chick-magnet Séraphin doesn’t quite settle down by the time the Epilogue wraps, but one can expect, if there is a sequel, it will be set in Windhoek and he will be pleading with the High Lords to stand at his side for the ceremony. Or not?

Harry Harambee's Kenyan Sundowner cover

Releasing June 29, 2021 in trade paperback, Kindle, and EPUB. Audiobook in production.

Thinking About Thinking #26 – The Centaur – How did you make it through high school?

Here’s my book review of The Centaur, a novel by John Updike. This book’s central metaphor from Greek mythology is that Chyron, the noblest of all the centaurs, took pity on humankind. The man-beast sacrificed himself to appease Zeus.

The Chyron of Updike’s story is George Caldwell, a middle-aged high-school teacher in small-town Pennsylvania. Although Caldwell would seem to be the main character, a lot of the narration is by his teenage son Peter. The lad loves his father but wishes the old man had a higher opinion of himself. George thinks he’s a loser, even though he seems to be beloved by most of his students, even the ones who mock him mercilessly.

The father-son relationship is the core of the book. Mother Cassie isn’t much of a character at all unless you sense the compassion between the lines. There isn’t much mythology in it except in bookend chapters that take us in and out. Updike seems to have done his homework and knows his Greek stories. But how those intertwine with the Caldwell family saga is obscure.

Updike’s legacy has been his Rabbit books, much like Philip Roth’s Zuckerman series. Updike’s came first. I sampled both and I wasn’t drawn to either. Too cynical, too bitter. Does anyone really care whether middle-class white men experience heartache and disappointment? I admit that’s a sarcastic rhetorical question. I haven’t read them all, but I suspect The Centaur might be John Updike’s best book.

In Clifford’s Spiral a stroke survivor tries to piece together the fragments of his memories. Was he the victim or the perpetrator? 2020 IPA Distinguished Favorite in Literary Fiction.

If you think iPhone intros were crazy, the first ballpoint’s was way wackier!


What was so funny in 1945?

Milton Reynolds introduced the ballpoint to the United States and triggered the biggest single-day shopping riot in history at Gimbels in Manhattan.

He made $5 million in eight weeks during the first non-wartime Christmas season. Then came competition and sales stunts of the “Pen Wars.” An exuberant entrepreneur, Reynolds bragged he “stole it fair and square.” This novel is told from his mild-mannered son Jim’s point of view, about coping with Milton’s outrageous schemes, then their sudden success.

Young adults, particularly males who identify with Jim, will take away…

  • What it was like to start a business when there were no rules (why capitalism can be fun)
  • A book report choice they will actually enjoy (reading or listening to the audiobook)
  • The difference between a huckster’s promise and a lie (they hope you’ll get what you want)
  • How to captivate the girl of your dreams (keep your word)
  • How to step out of your father’s shadow (when he’s larger than life)
  • What makes a grown man get out of bed each morning? (______!)

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Mr. Ballpoint is available in hardcover, trade paperback, Kindle, EPUB, and Audible Audiobook.

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